


Lost.

by Noblegas Xenon (NoblegasXenon)



Series: There's A Traitor In the Midst [7]
Category: Lego - All Media Types, Lego Ninjago
Genre: Gen, Loneliness, Running Away, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 08:43:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13737261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoblegasXenon/pseuds/Noblegas%20Xenon
Summary: Running into the maw of the beast.





	Lost.

Frantically grabbing his only things, Ronin was ready to leave. He didn’t have much, just his clothes on him and hygiene equipment. He feels on edge, what if Wu found him like this? He slowly opens his door and steps out trying not to make a sound.

The first creak causes him to jump. Tip-toeing his way to the monastery gate he opens the latch and gets the door open. He wants to run but he forces himself to not. Not yet, it wasn’t completely time nor was he away from the temple. He shuts the door and looks to the dark night sky.

He walks down the rocky trail until he reaches the end of the mountain. He sighs, almost as if in relief. He could be free, maybe. He takes off running, without a single care. He was leaving his past behind. He wanted this.

Ronin feels the wind whip his face and his face but he tries not to flinch. Adrenaline was catching up and he was getting away. He skips the villages heading instead for the forests ahead. He realizes he hadn’t grabbed any food but was too energized to care.

He’ll wander through the trees instead. He didn’t care who had found him so long as it wasn’t Wu. He starts climbing up one and jumps from tree to tree. What was more that he could ask for? He hears some shouting behind him and almost completely falls off the tree.

He’s just barely hanging on, catching the branch he was on by a hand. Ow, he thinks. Oh, he thinks again when he’s staring face to face with a brown haired bearded man whose giving him a startled look. He takes the long silence to the examine the man.

Other then the noticeable dark bushy brown beard and hair, the man was wearing a beige sleeveless shirt with a teal vest covered by belts. He had on a single feather necklace and Ronin almost wanted to touch it just to figure out if it was a real feather or not. His pants were baggy green shorts that were strung with leather strings.

He doesn’t notice the long wooden staff until he gets hit on the head with it. That causes him to fall off the tree. “Oh fuck! I didn’t mean to do that.” Ronin was falling for a while until several tree branches begin to cradle him stopping his fall. He sees the man sitting on a wooden staircase watching him.

“Do you have business here?” He asks. There’s a defensive shield around him but also confusion and surprise.

“N- No.” Ronin says slight fear in his voice. He was caught. He was going to go back to the temple. He feels his eyes go hard with almost tears but he knows they won’t come out.

“Hey hey kid, you’re fine. I just want to know why you’re here.” The man quickly responds back bringing his hands up placatingly.

“I-” Ronin didn’t know what to say. Was he Wu’s student? His surrogate? Just where was he supposed to be standing? “I’m running away.” He decides on.

“Running away? What for?” The shielding disappeared in place of more confusion and worry this time. Ronin didn’t want to tell the truth and just shook his head. 

“Who are you?” Ronin asks instead.

“Bolobo.” He says shortly and simply. “Would you like to come inside?” He gestures to a treehouse. The treehouse itself was completely in greens and browns. Ronin realizes it’s camouflaged. “Why are you letting me?” Ronin asks, so unsure he’s about to break again.

Bolobo shrugs, “Can’t let you stay outside, you’ll get cold.”

“What if I want to?” Ronin says back. Bolobo just stares at him. “You already fell off a tree, do you want to get a cold now?”

Through an impulse of stupidity, Ronin replies. “I don’t care.” And actually, actually jumps down from the cradle of branches. He didn’t know if Bolobo was going to bring him back to Wu’s but he didn’t have the guts to find out. 

He heard Bolobo shouting at him as he ran but he just kept going. Once more, he was running. Weaving through trees and leaping through bushes. He realized as he nearly crashed into a tree, that while he didn’t care. He didn’t have the capabilities to fully trust anymore. But he needed someone to be there for him. Something inside was broken but he didn’t know what.

Ronin knew he couldn’t go up to anyone and ask to be their friend. Or even to take him away from his home. But he couldn’t wait for it to happen, he didn’t want to wait for it. He stayed on the forest floor as he sprinted.

He didn’t know where he was going but didn’t have an ounce to care either. Just as long as the temple and the tree house were out of sight. Ronin didn’t want to stew in misery but he wasn’t going to recovery in the temple. Anything, anything could’ve been done before Wu silenced it all. His choices were none and he collapses onto the ground, feet tired and arms sore.

He bites back tears again. He felt like he couldn’t fight anymore, just like a ceramic vase. Wu was going to drop him. He didn’t care! He never did at all! So why was he being kept inside? Why was he made a gilded cage to just scream in? Why was he even there at all?

He attempts to relax for the night. He can stay out there. But he couldn’t. Every sound frightened him and he never got away from the thoughts that Wu was watching him. His fear was overtaking him.

He sniffles but doesn’t cry. His eyes felt numb with unbidden tears. Feelings of helplessness and feelings of fear cradled him with a mother’s grip. Strong and steady, he knew he had no where to go. The monastery was his home as much as he refused that. The monastery was his only place where he could live.

He tries not to think, he tries not to let the darkness creep and grab at him. He tries not to break. But then he hears the snapping of tree branches and he chokes his breathe in fear. He moves his tired legs and runs. Runs again and away from there. He didn’t want to be damned to that place. He didn’t want to feel like a prisoner again. But the voices! It's Wu’s.

Wu was there, Wu had found him. But how? Didn’t he make sure not to leave a trace of himself? Ronin forces down a scream of fear. All he is now is scared, scared,  _ scared _ and there’s nothing he could do anymore.

He didn’t care for the state of his legs, his arms. He just wanted to get away. But then Ronin trips and he falls. He feels the staff on his back and he wheezes. He tries to crawl away, to get some freedom- But the staff just gets slammed down harder and he cries out in pain.

“Now, what were you thinking? Running away?” Wu is looming over him and Ronin is scared to talk at all. So he whimpers instead.

“Child, you know what happens when you do that.” It’s so sickly sweet that Ronin wants to gag. Lies were just being spat at him. He wants to squirm away but he knows. He knows he’ll just get hit.

“Get up. And go.” Ronin hesitates but stands up. “We’re walking back to the temple.” But he was so far away. He almost says nothing.

“But- the distance- I can’t-” The staff shoves him and he almost falls off his own feet.

“Yes, you can. Now try.” Wu hisses in a threatening tone and Ronin shivers. He’s in pain and everything just felt sore now. He begins to move under Wu’s orders but his boundaries, his body and mind just felt weak. Weaker, weakened? He didn’t know.

He wasn’t free and he knew it wasn’t going to be possible for a long, long time. The path and crossroads forced him forward stumbling the whole way there. Maybe he was just rotten inside, that was why he had to stay with Wu. Ronin shook his head. His feet may become sore but he still had his soul. He had to carry himself.


End file.
